New Bike Lanes Come to 7th Street (Updated: 1:55 P.M.)

Back in the day when I lived in Mid-town and regularly traveled Downtown 7th Street was by far my favorite route. I would pair it with 4th Street and a North-South connecting street and it was a relatively safe and easy ride excepting that one hill right before the end of Downtown where the wind always seemed to hit me like a wall.

Now that commute is much easier, because according to Joe Anthony the LADOT was Taking Care of Business and Workin’ Overtime and some fresh bike lanes appeared on 7th Street over the weekend. In addition, the four lane surface street underwent a weekend diet and has shrunk down to two mixed use through lanes, one turn lane, and two bike lanes.

Unlike the new lanes on Woodley Avenue, these lanes were completed in just one weekend, avoiding any confusion that the partially completed Woodley Lanes created in their early existence.

A big tip of the bike helmet to the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition who have championed this project for years and conducted extensive outreach to get the surrounding community on board before the diet went down. Next stop, Abbott Kinney?

UPDATE: There’s several new things we’ve learned about the lanes from LADOT staff and bike commuters, for more click on after the jump.

The road diet is currently in place from Catalina Avenue to Hoover Ave. The bike lanes currently run from Catalina Avenue to Rampart Blvd. and will be extended to Figueroa Street in the next couple of weeks.

(Note: A previous version of this story said that the Bureau of Street Services was responsible for the physical painting of the lanes.)

The last time I saw plans for these, there was supposed to be a painted buffer accompanying the bike lane along the length of MacArthur Park. Excited to see if LA now has it’s first buffered bike lane.

Allison

yes they will go from catalina to figueroa first phase, eventually to soto in a later phase that has been studied.

Allison

Thank you for all the love, by the way, we have worked really hard for these, for the day laborers at CARECEN we work with, for the neighborhood youth and families riding the corridor, and for the cyclist community who already knows its one of the flatest ways to get into downtown! Thanks to Jill and others at Councilman Reyes’ office for their support and arranging for the work crews’ overtime to get these lanes in a month quicker than planned!

http://twitter.com/BicyclingNate Nate Baird

From Catalina to Figueroa will be complete in a week or so. Crews are working their way west from Catalina. New striping went in this weekend from Catalina to Vermont or so. These are not quite done yet, but will be soon.

El Barto

yesireee bob! thanks to all involved!

http://twitter.com/FASHIIONREBEL Julian Oliver

To clarify where things are right now: The new road diet is in place from Catalina to Hoover. This past weekend, the new road diet and bike lanes were striped from Catalina to Rampart. Striping crews will be in again each weekend, following the removal of the old striping, till the bike lanes reach Figueroa in a week or two or so.

Work crews are currently removing the old striping from Hoover to Figueroa during the week. Today, we saw them working near MacArthur Park. You’ll see them using a grinder and street sweepers. The new striping will come in on the weekends.

http://twitter.com/BicyclingNate Nate Baird

To clarify where things are right now: The new road diet is in place from Catalina to Hoover. This past weekend, the new road diet and bike lanes were striped from Catalina to Rampart. Striping crews will be in again each weekend, following the removal of the old striping, till the bike lanes reach Figueroa in a week or two or so.

Work crews are currently removing the old striping from Hoover to Figueroa during the week. Today, we saw them working near MacArthur Park. You’ll see them using a grinder and street sweepers. The new striping will come in on the weekends.

http://twitter.com/BicyclingNate Nate Baird

7th St. will have a standard bike lane. We’ll have more news on a buffered bike lane for L.A. up soon, I think.

And one more clarification. There will not be a buffered bike lane near MacArthur Park. This will be a standard bike lane treatment from Catalina to Figueroa. We do hope to let folks know about a buffered bike lane for another project in the very near future.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=708020490 Chris Loos

I hope you mean Spring or Main :)

http://www.videoconverterfactory.com/ Jessica

I think it is a good news for the lovers of the bike, they can enjoy riding their bike more freely and conveniently..